


Fake Dating Doesn't Always End The Same Way

by ughdotcom



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ughdotcom/pseuds/ughdotcom
Summary: The pact was simple. To keep guys from hitting on Nyota Spock would pretend to be her boyfriend.When happens when Spock gets a crush on the boy hitting on Nyota?
Relationships: Christine Chapel/Nyota Uhura (mentioned), James T. Kirk/Spock
Comments: 16
Kudos: 215





	Fake Dating Doesn't Always End The Same Way

Nyota’s best friend was her teacher. That made her sound like a nerd, but she was a nerd, so that was okay. Her best friend was her teacher, and her teacher’s best friend was her.

And the next person to assume they were dating was going to get kicked. In the face. By her, Vulcans like Professor Spock were pacifists.

A lot of people seemed to assume they were in a romantic relationship and breaking a lot of rules, which really didn’t surprise her. People were heteronormative, and the youngest professor and the best student dissapearing into their respective apartments was shady.

The first time that Nyota even brought up romantic relationships with Spock was when she was telling him about the asshole from the Iowan bar. “Hey Spock? If a creepy asshole ever hits on me again, can you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

“Vulcans cannot lie, you know this, Nyota.”

“You don’t have to lie. Just do something romantic.”

“Do I have to kiss you?”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“I am not opposed to the idea. I am open to anything, as long as it is only in front of the, as you put it, creepy asshole, and we do not hold hands.”

“Deal. Thanks, Spock. Do you want to play a video game on the holo?”

“If you wish to.”

“That’s a yes then.”

* * *

Spock could tell from the way Nyota puts up with James Kirk that he has hit on her before. She was always stiff when talking to males and male presenting people, but she was stiffer than usual, and more cold, which is almost always the tell tale sign with her.

He wondered if their pact was going to be put into action, now, on a star ship in which he is the first officer.

With the way she glanced at him, he was 98.97% sure it was.

* * *

Nyota loved Spock, but not in a romantic way. But right now she just had to pretend. She didn’t think that Kirk was interested in her, not with how many conquests he had under his belt, but she was hard to get, and she had heard that Kirk loved things that were heard to get.

So before Spock beamed down to the Narada, she stepped close and leaned close, giving him a chance to move away or say no, and kissed him. When she pulled back she looked at Kirk, who was watching them with an air of confusion. “I will be back.” he whispers. A faint reassurance, probably untrue, but what any best friend wants to hear, and what any girlfriend would want to hear.

“You better be. I’m monitoring your frequency.”

“Thank you, Nyota.” They smile at each other and she leaves.

“So her name’s Nyota, then?” she hears Kirk ask.

Ah fuck, she should have told Spock not to let him hear her first name.

* * *

Now Kirk was her captain, which was a bit of a setback, seeing how now she was stuck in a fake relationship with her best friend.

But, that’s just what happens when you do something that damn stupid, she thought, walking with Spock talking about verb conjugations.

* * *

So he was about to descend into an active volcano. That was just the life working in Starfleet.

Nyota was fastening his heat proof suit, which was a good excuse to look romantic, as he couldn’t do it himself, but it had a domestic look to it. He was calling Kirk, who was being illogically sarcastic as always.

“You’re good.”

“If we’re going to do this, we have to do it now. This ash is killing our coils.” Sulu interjected, obviously not interested in their little heterosexual love fest.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to go instead?” Nyota said, and Spock.

“That would be highly illogical, as I am already outfitted.”

“Spock, I was kidding.” She smiles warmly at him, kisses where his cheek would be if he wasn’t wearing a helmet. “You got this.” He refrains for asking what that meant, as he didn’t have anything besides the cold fusion device.

“Guys! We have to go! Now!” Sulu demanded, and Spock personally agreed on more counts than one: if he was in a shuttle with an urgent mission and two people were being overly romantic, he would dislike it as well.

“See you in 90 seconds.” Nyota went into the cockpit and pressed the button releasing him into the volcano.

As Sulu tried to get him back into the shuttle due to the fact that the smoke was making it malfunction, his cable snapped and he landed on rocks floating in the lava. He heard Nyota’s anxious voice asking if he’s okay.

“I am, surprisingly, alive. Stand by.”

After a while of setting up the sold fusion device, he hears Kirk’s voice. “Spock?”

“I have activated the device, Captain. When the countdown is complete, the reaction should render the volcano inert.”

He listened to them argue about what to do, reminding them that the  _ Enterprise _ would be visible, and that they cannot rescue him, and that trying to save him would violate the prime directive.

As his connection breaks out he prepares himself for death. He doesn’t want to feel the emotions he already knows from the explosion of Vulcan. He spread his arms, and he was suddenly transported onto the  _ Enterprise _ .

Kirk was, for lack of any other word, a dumbass.

“Spock! You alright?” he looked altogether too much like a puppy for someone who just broke the prime directive.

“Captain, you let them see our ship.”

“Oh, he’s fine.” Dr. McCoy said.

That’s when Nyota commed them. “Bridge to Captain Kirk.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Is Commander Spock on board, sir?” He hoped she didn’t endorse this. She really should know better.

“Safely and soundly.”

“Please notify him that his device has detonated successfully.”

He flinched, internally, of course. Vulcans don’t flinch, but there is something terrifying about a pissed Nyota, and Spock knew that that was what a pissed Nyota sounded like.

And then he and Kirk start to bicker again.

* * *

Nyota was getting used to Kirk. He was still brash, but he had manners, and he was no longer sleeping with everything that moved.

So she gave him her condolences about Pike. “Captain. I’m so sorry about Admiral Pike.”

“We all are.”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, thank you, Lieutenant.”

They boarded the turbolift and after a minute of silence Kirk spoke up again.”

“Actually, Scotty just quit. And your boyfriend's second-guessing me every chance he gets. I'm sorry, that was inappropriate. It's just sometimes I want to rip the bangs off his head. You know, maybe it's me. I-”

“It’s not just you.” she interrupted. She was still pissed at Spock for being so ready to die.

“It’s not? Wait, are you guys fighting?”

“I’d rather not talk about it, sir.”

“Oh my god. What is that even like?”

The door slid open to Spock. They turned to face him, and she realized it must have been painfully obvious that they were talking about him.

When Kirk brushes past him he whispers “Your ears burning?”

* * *

When Kirk took both of them down to Q’onoS he asked them if it was going to be a problem. Nyota said that it wouldn’t. Spock wasn’t so sure, and that’s proven true when they are in the trade ship and Nyota said “good thing you don’t care about dying.”

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, I could not hear what you said.” he isn’t completely lying, he couldn't hear a syllable, but he knows exactly what she said.

“Oh, I didn't say anything. Actually, I'd be happy to speak if you're willing to listen to me.”

“Guys.” Kirk said, but Spock ignored him.

“Lieutenant, I would prefer to discuss this in private.”

“You'd prefer not to discuss this at all, that's-”

“Our current circumstances-”

“Are you, are you really going to do this right now?”

“-what never seems to require your undivided focus. I'm sorry, Captain, just two seconds. Okay, is us. At that volcano, you didn't give a thought to  _ us _ . What it would do to me if you died, Spock. You didn't feel anything. You didn't care. And I'm not the only one who's upset with you. The Captain is too.”

“No, no, no. Don’t drag me into this!” Kirk protested, and Spock was about to thank him, when he said “She is right.”

“Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient being's optimal chance at maximising their utility is a long and prosperous life.”

“Great.” Nyota said.

“Not exactly a love song, Spock.”

He thought over how to say it. “You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realising that my own life was ending. As Admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger. Confusion. Loneliness. Fear. I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite.”

As his words sank in there was an explosion.

  
  


When Spock was called down to engineering he didn’t expect this. Kirk- Jim slumped against the glass door to the warp core, dying of radiation.

“Open it!” Spock demanded.

“The decontamination process is not complete. You'd flood the whole compartment. The door's locked, sir.” Scotty protested.

Spock knelt down next to the door.

“How’s our ship?” Jim asked.

“Out of danger. You saved the crew.” he knew that ‘out of danger’ was a sentence fragment, and unbecoming, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“You used what he wanted against him. That’s a nice move.”

“It’s what you would have done.”

“And this, this is what you would have done. it was only logical. I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be. How do you choose not to feel?”

Spock flooded with more sadness than he could handle. “I do not know. Right now I am failing.” He wished he could control his emotions, but seeing Jim there, dying, was more than he could handle.

“I want you to know why I couldn't let you die. Why I went back for you.” Jim said, and it sounded so much like a love confession.

“Because you are my friend.” Spock said, feeling, strangely, inside that he felt so much more for Jim.

Jim pressed his hand against the door, and Spock pressed back, separating his fingers into the ta’al. Jim responded in kind, before falling fully down, dead.

Spock screamed Khan’s name. He was going to kill him.

* * *

When Nyota beamed down to find Khan about to crush Spock’s head she felt so much panic while fireding her phaser. She couldn’t lose her best friend, not after losing her captain.

As Khan fell down Spock started to punch him, and she started begging him to stop.

“Spock! Spock, stop! Stop! He’s our only chance to save Kirk!”

Spock stopped before throwing a final punch. Interesting how much emotion there was, she thought.

Would they have to terminate their pact?

* * *

“Nyota, we must talk.”

“Yeah, I know. Come to my quarters.”

When they arrived there Spock finally spoke. “I think I’m in love with Jim.”

“I have to be significantly drunk for this.” she said, walking over to the replicator.

“The alcohol from the replicator has no inebriating qualities.”

“Thanks, Spock. Ever heard of the placebo effect?”

“Ah. Fortunately, I prepared for your need for alcohol, and so I acquired some from Chekov.”

“Chekov? How’d you do that?”

“I told him that it was for you.”

“Ever the romantic, Chekov is.” Nyota said, accepting the bottle. “Scotch? I thought that with all his Russia talk, he’d like vodka.”

“People are a lot more than what you think, Nyota.”

“Apparently, because you’re in love with who we’ve both described as an asshole.” she said, pouring out some of the scotch. “So. We need to break up.”

“Yes, but I cannot think of how to do it.”

“Wait, wait, I think I know it. Give me something you don’t mind parting with, but would be a good gift for a XO. I’ll give it to you, as if we’ve broken up in front of the others.”

“I could not accept a gift I had already given.”

“That’s why I said something you don’t mind parting with.”

“I have a necklace that belonged to my mother.”

“Spock-”

“I do not mind, Nyota. She would like you to have it.”

“Okay. Did she know you were bi?”

“Yes. I told her the minute that I figured it out.”

“My mom doesn’t know I’m pan. I could tell her already, I know she’d accept it, but I haven’t been able to.”

“Nyota, you can take as much time as you’d like. It is your decision.”

  
  


* * *

“Spock.” he turned to face Nyota. “Do you have a moment?”

“Of course, Nyota.” he responded.

“You should have this back. After all, it belonged to your mother.”

“It is not in the Vulcan custom to receive again that which was given as a gift.”

Nyota was happy that she and Spock could both smile with their eyes instead of their mouths.

* * *

Spock knew that maybe insisting to go rescue Nyota might be counter productive to the whole ‘make Jim know you’re available’ thing, but he couldn’t leave his best friend there. He loved Nyota platonically more than he loved anyone else, even Jim.

He had to rescue her.

* * *

“Captain. The flight patterns of bees are determined by individual decisions. Krall’s swarm formations are too complex not to rely on some form of unified cyber pathic coordination. I surmise that if-”

“Spock, skip to the end.”

“He’s saying that if we disorient the swarm, we can kick it’s ass.” Nyota said, and Spock resisted a smile. Nyota was truly his other platonic half.

“Precisely.”

The only problem was they were  _ really _ still acting like a couple, because being a couple was being best friends but kissing.

* * *

“Jim, we must speak.” Spock said after everything was resolved and they were back on the  _ Enterprise _ .

“Yes, Spock?” Jim said, pleasant surprise showing in his voice.

“It has come to my attention that I harbor… feelings toward you.”

“Really?” Jim said, smiling widely. “But what about Uhura?”

“We are not together.”

“Don’t you still love her?”

“My love for Nyota is nothing but platonic. My love for you however-” Spock was cut off by Jim pressing a kiss to his lips.

“I love you too, Spock.”

A smile appeared on Spock’s lips. “That is most gratifying.”

“As much as I love to see you smile, I think I’m just gonna-” Jim leaned in and kissed Spock again, who eagerly reporacated.

* * *

They were on Earth for shore leave, walking through the park, hands tangled when Spock decided that maybe he should tell Jim the truth about him and Nyota before they melded.

“I must tell you something.”

Jim stopped. “Yeah?”

“Nyota and I may have deceived you.” Jim’s face fell. “We were never, as you say, together.”

He grinned “You weren’t? Sorry, Spock, I’ve gotta say that it looked a lot like being together.”

“She believed that you would try to, as she put it, hook up with her. We had made a pact that I would pretend to be her boyfriend to keep guys she wasn’t interested in away from her.”

“And it became a big thing.”

“Yes.”

“Wow.” Jim laughed. “That’s hilarious. True mlm/wlw solidarity.”

“How do you know of Nyota’s orientation?” Spock asked as they started to walk again.

“She might think her and Christine are being subtle, but they really aren’t.”

“She will be sad to hear.”

“Will she?”

“Most likely. She was afraid of outing Christine.”

“I’m sure Christine won't mind.”

* * *

“I  _ cannot _ believe you are getting married.” Nyota said.

“Technically Jim and I are already married.”

“Got it. Thanks for making me your bridesmaid.” she laughed.

“I am not a bride-”

“Shut up and deal with it.” she said.

“I shall, as you say, shut up and deal with it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sites I used for transcripts:  
> https://subslikescript.com/movie/Star_Trek_Beyond-2660888  
> http://www.chakoteya.net/Extras/list.html


End file.
